Upon making the great move to Dallas a few years ago, experiencing the culture here is like nowhere else I’ve lived. What you wear, how you look, what you do, and what you drive is valued above who you are. In our downtown apartment community alone, I can count at least 30 Lexus’s, mercedes, bmw’s, hummers, and jaguars (all owned by twenty and thirty somethings). So yes, the kind of car you have is important.

It seems like in other places, you just don’t see this. At least that’s what our friends say when they come to visit. But why is it that we love to place our identity in what we do or in things?

Perhaps it’s a security for us. It’s easier to find identity and meaning in those things rather than in Someone we can’t see. But what if we stripped all those things away, what would we have? What if people saw us for who we really are? Not what we do or what we drive?

I think we’d all be in for a real shock- to realize that we’re all pretty much the same even if the outside appears pretty: we’re all Messy people on the inside in need of a holy and perfect God.

Though far from perfect, that’s what I’m striving for when it comes to my real identity.

A few weeks ago, my husband was driving down the road and saw a truck advertising AshleyMadison.com. The slogan “Life is Short. Have an Affair” was written across it in big letters. They were  taking a tour through several cities to market what they have to offer. Their site boasts over 4.5 million members.

Noel Biderman, President and CEO of AshleyMadison.com states, “I don’t think a billboard is going to convince you to commit adultery. It just makes you aware of our service. People come to us because we offer them a lack of judgment. Step back and look at marriage and divorce rates. Monogamy is obviously up for debate.”

My heart breaks that monogamy is up for debate. My heart breaks that there is a lie out there that says you’ll be happy if you just… have an affair.

I’m also reminded by the fact that I am by no means immune to an affair. No one is- No matter how wonderful your marriage is. The lie is out there and wants to choke the life and joy out of every marriage.

We all know the alarming divorce stats and have been impacted and devastated by divorce either directly or indirectly. We can’t hide under the sheets and pretend that divorce is “no big deal.”  I’d like to proclaim first of all that marriage is worth fighting for.

It is worth fighting for because God’s will is for marriage alone and not for adultery. In Exodus 24, God established a decree and said, “You shall not commit adultery.” This law was established out of love and protection- not to put binding shackles on our feet or to keep us from fun.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians: “The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.”

God has designed marriage so that my body doesn’t belong to me but to my husband. Therefore, the “owner” of my body is my husband and God.

There is a dark, subtle lie that is capturing the hearts of 4.5 million people and it might be capturing yours or already has- I don’t know. But God always offers forgiveness and is deeply concerned with the matters of your heart. He is always in the business of restoring what has been lost.

It’s no doubt that life is short… but it is not found in having an affair to satisfy a deeper need.

Have you seen the billboards and TV slots? What do you think?